Halde, Jean-Baptiste du
First edition, the fine Macclesfield copy, of this fundamental encyclopedic description of China, and also Korea, with extensive descriptions of all aspects of Chinese life, religion, customs, trades and professions, language, music, arts and sciences, especially astronomy and medicine. The work is richly illustrated with newly engraved maps, plans, and folding engraved plates. It is often regarded as the most complete and valuable history of the Chinese Empire to have appeared up to the time of its publication.
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Four volumes, folio, (430 x 280 mm). [4], VIII, LII, IV, 592; [4], IV, 725, [1]; [4], IV, 564, IX-[XII]; [4], II, 520 pp., with 43 engraved maps and 21 engraved plates (folding, double-page and full-page). Contemporary mottled calf, tooled and lettered in gilt, red and green morocco lettering pieces to spines, red edges, edges gilt and marbled endpapers; boards scuffed, the front and back boards lightly scraped and rubbed, hinges somewhat weakened, without affecting the structural integrity of the binding. Some light spotting and browning on some leaves, a few water stains at the foot of volumes 2-4, otherwise in excellent condition.
The engraved plates show costumes, smaller town plans, scenes from court life and other subjects. The maps were based on the Jesuit surveys carried out between 1708 and 1718. The work also includes descriptions of Korea, Siberia, and Tibet. Added at the end is the account of Gerbillon's travels into Western Tartary, undertaken in 1688-1689 by order of the Chinese Emperor, as well as Ferdinand Verbiest's accounts of his two journies into Manchuria and Mongolia, both made in the train of the Emperor Kang-hi in 1682, and Engelbrecht Kämpfer's famous description of Japan, complete with the added Japanese diary by J.G. Scheuchzer, from 1673. The work was republished in The Hague and translated into English by R. Brookes (The general history of China (London 1636 in 8vo)) in the following year. A German translation appeared in Rostock, 1747-49.
This encyclopedic survey by the Jesuit Jean-Baptiste du Halde (1674-1743), based on the reports of seventeen Jesuit missionaries, was the prime source for the new fashion of chinoiserie in the eighteenth century. It was also an important source of information for many authors, including Voltaire who considered China in 1765 as an enlightened Utopia, basing himself on the work of Du Halde. At least during the entire century following its publication in 1735, Du Halde was 'Pflichtlektüre' for all discussions and conversations relating to China.
Provenance: the Macclesfield copy, including two versions of the bookplate of the library of the Earls of Macclesfield mounted on front pastedown and first flyleaf of each volume.
Cordier, Sinica 46-47; Lust 12; Sommervogel IV, 35.11.
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